DRINKING WATER

GettyImages-598091682 piepline control main valve Empowering Smarter Decisions With Pipeline Data

Through case studies and technical insights, this paper demonstrates how utilities can use inspection tools, valve assessments, structural modeling, and predictive analytics to make informed decisions.

DRINKING WATER CASE STUDIES AND WHITE PAPERS

DRINKING WATER APPLICATION NOTES

DRINKING WATER PRODUCTS

Water reuse is no longer a choice. It’s a necessity. Orenco’s AdvanTex Treatment Systems consistently produce clear effluent that meets the most stringent permit limits.

The ENVIROMAG is an electromagnetic flowmeter. The magmeter is the optimum solution for North American water and wastewater measurement applications. Its design and performance makes it the choice for flow measurement throughout the process.

Designed to transform mechanical meters into communication data points, Itron's Cyble communication modules enable remote reading and monitoring of water meters on-site events. 

AquaControl™ provides leak and burst protection, full submetered billing support, and remote water actuation through its smart connected valve. Aquana captures unit-level consumption, uses flow analysis and contact sensors to detect anomalies, and provides automated shutoff before serious damage occurs.

The Lmic is an easy-to-use, low-cost electronic listening stick combined with a ground microphone. It is ideal for general leak-sounding operations and can be fitted with either a tripod foot (for use as a ground microphone) or probe rods (for sounding at fittings or in the soft ground).

The BEACON® Software as a Service (SaaS) solution combines the intuitive power of BEACON SaaS software suite with proven ORION® Cellular Network as a Service (NaaS), Traditional Fixed Network (AMI) and Mobile (AMR) meter reading technologies to provide utility management with greater visibility, control and optimized information. 

LATEST INSIGHTS ON DRINKING WATER

DRINKING WATER VIDEOS

This video gives an overview of the features and benefits of the YSI Professional Plus, or Pro Plus, handheld multiparameter water quality instrument.

The TROLL® 9500 Water Quality Instrument simplifies multiparameter monitoring. The TROLL 9500 is a powerful, portable unit that houses up to nine water quality sensors, internal power, and optional data logging capabilities.

IPR'S CIPP liner system for gravity-flow sewers and culverts is the most proven, cost-effective trenchless pipeline rehabilitation system in the industry. It is also the most widely specified form of trenchless pipeline rehabilitation.

V-Bio Polyethylene Encasement is the latest scientific advancement in corrosion control for ductile iron pipe.  In this interview with Water Online, Maury Gaston of American Ductile Iron Pipe and American SpiralWeld Pipe talks about the many benefits of iron pipe and the company’s improved polyethylene encasement, including how its revolutionary formulation allows for complete confidence on the part of the owner, engineer and municipality that no matter how aggressive the soils, the rugged iron pipe installed will last for generations. 

A group of Congressional Democratic lawmakers from Michigan has proposed legislation to provide $600 million in financial assistance to help Flint deal with its current water crisis.

ABOUT DRINKING WATER

In most developed countries, drinking water is regulated to ensure that it meets drinking water quality standards. In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administers these standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)

Drinking water considerations can be divided into three core areas of concern:

  1. Source water for a community’s drinking water supply
  2. Drinking water treatment of source water
  3. Distribution of treated drinking water to consumers

Drinking Water Sources

Source water access is imperative to human survival. Sources may include groundwater from aquifers, surface water from rivers and streams and seawater through a desalination process. Direct or indirect water reuse is also growing in popularity in communities with limited access to sources of traditional surface or groundwater. 

Source water scarcity is a growing concern as populations grow and move to warmer, less aqueous climates; climatic changes take place and industrial and agricultural processes compete with the public’s need for water. The scarcity of water supply and water conservation are major focuses of the American Water Works Association.

Drinking Water Treatment

Drinking Water Treatment involves the removal of pathogens and other contaminants from source water in order to make it safe for humans to consume. Treatment of public drinking water is mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. Common examples of contaminants that need to be treated and removed from water before it is considered potable are microorganisms, disinfectants, disinfection byproducts, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals and radionuclides.

There are a variety of technologies and processes that can be used for contaminant removal and the removal of pathogens to decontaminate or treat water in a drinking water treatment plant before the clean water is pumped into the water distribution system for consumption.

The first stage in treating drinking water is often called pretreatment and involves screens to remove large debris and objects from the water supply. Aeration can also be used in the pretreatment phase. By mixing air and water, unwanted gases and minerals are removed and the water improves in color, taste and odor.

The second stage in the drinking water treatment process involves coagulation and flocculation. A coagulating agent is added to the water which causes suspended particles to stick together into clumps of material called floc. In sedimentation basins, the heavier floc separates from the water supply and sinks to form sludge, allowing the less turbid water to continue through the process.

During the filtration stage, smaller particles not removed by flocculation are removed from the treated water by running the water through a series of filters. Filter media can include sand, granulated carbon or manufactured membranes. Filtration using reverse osmosis membranes is a critical component of removing salt particles where desalination is being used to treat brackish water or seawater into drinking water.

Following filtration, the water is disinfected to kill or disable any microbes or viruses that could make the consumer sick. The most traditional disinfection method for treating drinking water uses chlorine or chloramines. However, new drinking water disinfection methods are constantly coming to market. Two disinfection methods that have been gaining traction use ozone and ultra-violet (UV) light to disinfect the water supply.

Drinking Water Distribution

Drinking water distribution involves the management of flow of the treated water to the consumer. By some estimates, up to 30% of treated water fails to reach the consumer. This water, often called non-revenue water, escapes from the distribution system through leaks in pipelines and joints, and in extreme cases through water main breaks.

A public water authority manages drinking water distribution through a network of pipes, pumps and valves and monitors that flow using flow, level and pressure measurement sensors and equipment.

Water meters and metering systems such as automatic meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) allows a water utility to assess a consumer’s water use and charge them for the correct amount of water they have consumed.